Wednesday, March 12, 2008

AD 1000: Living on the Brink of Apocalypse by Richard Erdoes is a melodramatic history of the 10th and 11th century. There seems to be something about this topic that brings out hyperbole as well as an uncontrollable urge to throw in as much color as possible. The narrative follows the life of Gerbert d'Aurillac who became Pope [Sylvester II]. Whenever Gerbert deals with a new situation the narrative stops to give background. Sometimes this takes us away from the major narrative for 20 or 30 pages. There is coverage of the medieval Church, Muslim Spain, Hungary, Russia, France and Germany. I suppose this works as popular history but it's rather unsatisfying if like me a reader expects something more sophisticated.